Humane Society to close

St. Augustine's Humane Society director says the facility's funds have gotten so low that they are forced to close at the end of this month.

Doug Shull, a member of the board of directors that governs Florida East Coast Humane Society in St. Augustine, said Wednesday the facility has been living off reserve funds that a resident left in a trust fund years ago. They've nearly depleted that money. And with the slow economy affecting their donations, the board decided the Humane Society will shut down on Oct. 31.

"We simply had to stop the bleeding," Shull said. "Right now it's not fiscally responsible to keep it open. It's losing money."

Rusty Hall, head of the Humane Society's board, said he is "unsure" when the facility will reopen.

"We'll reopen hopefully as quickly as we can," he said.

Humane Society Director Cindy Bishop is working to adopt out the nearly 200 animals at the shelter. She said she plans to call rescue groups in the area, and she is researching the possibility of transporting animals to Humane Societies in surrounding counties.

"We'd love to have people come down and adopt them," she added. "We really need the community."

In September, Bishop and the board decided to stop accepting stray animals at the shelter because of low funds. The animals were directed to the St. Johns County Animal Control pet center.

Bishop said she's "trying not to burden" Animal Control with the shelter's current animals.

However, Shull said if the animals aren't adopted, that's likely where they will end up.

Paul Studivant, Animal Control chief, was unaware the shelter was closing until The Record contacted him. He said his facility has had a 43 percent increase last month from the additional strays.

Studivant is concerned the pet center won't be prepared if the Humane Society's animals show up at his door.

"Twenty-something days to get ready for 100-something animals is not much time," he said. "But we will do whatever we need to. ... We will stretch a penny into a nickel if we need to."

Hall said one of the reasons the shelter's budget has been limping along is because it no longer receives money from the county. Animal Control used to keep its animals at the Humane Society facility. The Humane Society received $318,000 a year, nearly 50 percent of its budget, for the service. But that was stopped roughly two years ago when the county built its own $1.8-million animal control pet center off Stratton Road off U.S. 1 north.

Bishop said then that shelter's costs would go down because they would no longer care for animal control's 5,000 animals it brought in annually.

The shelter has been operating at its present location for about 50 years.